Medical Malpractice Lawsuits - Odd's not in victims favour

23 April, 2013

The Globe and Mail recently posted an article that highlighted the disturbing fact that most patients with medical malpractice lawsuits have a slim chance of winning. This article featured a book called, After the Error: Speaking Out About Patient Safety to Save Lives, the author, Robin Wyndham, a retired nurse had compiled various stories throughout her career about patients who were victims of medical errors. This book outlines many disturbing issues that patients face when they are victims of medical errors. For example, Wyndham cited that 38,000 - 43,000 deaths each year in Canada are caused by medical mistakes. Furthermore, Wyndham also stated that between 2005-2010 there were only 4,524 lawsuits filed against Canadian doctors. Within that same time period (2005-2010) there were 3,089 claims dismissed or abandoned due to various reasons, from the claim being dismissed in court, to the victim running out of funds to proceed etc. Some more intriguing statistic's Wyndham highlighted were; 1) Out of 521 cases that went to trial, only 116 led to a judgment that favoured the patient 2) The median damage awarded was just $117,000 3) Of more than 4,000 lawsuits filed against doctors from 2005 to 2010, only 2 per cent resulted in trial verdicts for the victim To many, these statistics are eye-opening and shocking. It is obvious that this needs to be further investigated as it appears these victims are being neglected and forgotten.Gluckstein Personal Injury Lawyers would like to advise that there are associations that continue to support patients and raise awareness. Please visitwww.patientsassociation.ca for more information on this topic and various events where you can learn more and show your support to patient issues such as this. If you or someone in your family has been a victim of a medical error, please contact Gluckstein Personal Injury Lawyers for information on how you can move forward with this. References: